This Week's Highlights

I haven't felt much like blogging this week, so I'm going to summarize the happenings of this week into one blog entry. Andy and I don't know what we are going to do when we return to Texas and there won't be windmills, tunnels, and airplanes to entertain Rachel on drives. We live about 10 minutes away from the airport and drive right by it whenever we go on the freeway. We always see airplanes taking off or landing. Rachel gets pretty excited when she is the one to spot the airplane. We have discovered that there's no point in pointing them out to her, it's just not exciting enough for her that way. She loves to spot windmills as well - the traditional Dutch ones and even the more modern ones. And she gets pretty excited whenever we drive through a tunnel. It helps make our 30-minute drive to church a bit easier. She has also gotten into the CDs that Grandma Michaelson sent her. She requests "ABCDs" and "EIEIO". It's funny how quickly you memorize the track numbers of the songs... On Monday I went out to lunch with some friends. It reminded me of and made me miss Lunch Bunch back at home. This time we weren't outnumbered by little ones though! :) It was totally even - 4 women and 4 little girls. It was fun to get out with some friends. Andy has been home every night this week for dinner. I don't think that ever happened back home, so it has been nice. On Monday Rachel slept so late for her nap that Andy got to greet her when she woke up.

Rachel has decided that yellow is her favorite color. She requests her "yellow binky" when she goes to sleep. I guess when your toddler can identify the color of their binkies, it might be time to get rid of them??? But hey, she only takes it when she's sleeping! Rachel also chose the shirt I'm wearing today. I had to wear it, because she picked it out and told me to wear my "yellow shirt". Too cute! I was feeling like something from back home, so I bought some Oreo cookies at the store this past week. The box had 12 cookies in it and I believe I paid 2 euros ($3). Crazy! I don't even buy Oreos back in the U.S., but I felt like something familiar. And Rachel enjoyed her first taste of Oreo cookies. After I bought the Oreo cookies my Girl Scout cookies were delivered. Too bad I hadn't waited a couple of hours. The American school over here does Girls Scouts and they sell the cookies just like they do back in the U.S. I was pretty excited when I found out about it. Although I still think the mint cookies we had in New Zealand are better than the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies.

Rachel has really gotten in to flipping through magazines and books. She especially loves to find horses, airplanes, and babies. We have learned to memorize the pages that these items are on in case she has a panic attack! Her favorite magazine to flip through is The Reader's Digest. I think it's the perfect size for her little hands. The other day I was busy on the computer and peeked over to see what Rachel was up to on the other side of the room... she was simply flipping through a magazine. We have a book about Europe that Rachel loves to flip through as well. It's one of the Eyewitness Travel Guides, so once again I think it's the perfect size. We know that the horses are pages 565 and 690. She certainly has us trained!

Today has been a beautiful day! I don't think there's a cloud in the sky and its right around 50 degrees. Perfect weather! So, we headed to the park down the street. We met another mom and her two toddler girls, who are originally from Australia. It was fun to watch the girls play with each other and talk with another adult! :) It brought back memories of Moms and Tots, which I miss! And I think Rachel does too. :) Rachel loved the slide and playing with the pebbles. She had fun playing with and even sharing her garden tools that Grandma Smith sent her. When we got home from the park we found lots of pebbles in Rachel's clothes - her jacket, onesie, and even her diaper. She loved the sound of the pebbles as she dumped them on the slide. Here are some pictures of our park adventure:

And the best part about our adventure to the park was as we were walking home Rachel reached up and grabbed my hand. She held my hand the whole way home as we walked and I enjoyed every minute of it. Rachel's not much of a hand-holder, so I cherished it while it lasted! It's been a good week and we're hoping for more sunny days like today! :)